


We've Got a Lovin' Thing, We Gotta Feed It Right

by BulletStrong



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Inspired by Grease, Swan Queen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-15 04:05:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10549788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BulletStrong/pseuds/BulletStrong
Summary: "Emma already feels a delirious giggle crawl it's way up her windpipe. For fucks sake, she's standing under the foot ball field bleachers during lunch with her kinda, sorta ex-boyfriend who belongs to the school gang and bangs a woman named Tamara who walks around school wearing pink all the time because that's what they do. That's the funny part. The delirious part is the fact that this school was supposed to be her fresh start yet here was Neal, who was her first love and first heartbreak, and only a few hours ago Emma made the worst first impression on Regina Mills, the girl that basically runs the school. In short, her fresh start has rotted real quick."Inspired by Grease. A short, cute story. Swan Queen.





	

There's two kinds of people in this world: the kind that think high school is the grand climax of their life, the good days, and the people who prayed every night to get out alive. Emma Swan was the latter. 

School had always been something she wasn't good at, something that frustrated her. She hated reading textbooks, doing homework, and, well, socializing in any way. The foster system can fuck you up like that. Before she was paired with the Charming's (which was just way too sickly sweet but fit the couple perfectly), Emma never truly tried. She had no reason to. She didn't have any foster parents that cared about her education and future and they certainly paid no mind to the bruises that would appear on her torso every week from the beatings bestowed upon her from the infamous bully the school had to offer. It managed to become pattern that no one cared enough to catch on to. Emma would move in. Emma would fail classes. Emma would get beaten or mentally tortured by her peers. Rinse and repeat. 

But times had changed. The Charming's were a gold mine in terms of foster parents and Emma was determined not to screw this up. They were nice, accepting of her past, they fed her, let her pick out new clothes, and let her decorate her room. They were totally The Ritz of foster parents. So she was determined to do right by them by trying her hardest at Storybrooke and avoiding any trouble, even if the trouble found her. 

That plan started off well enough... until she locked up her bicycle on the rack in front of the school and heard a cat call sound from behind her and she bent to pick up her bag. Normally, Emma would've turned and given the punk a black eye for even trying, but she had the pact in the back of her mind, so she turned slowly to lock eyes with the walking pile of garbage, only to gasp when she recognized him.

"Neal?" The boy looked as stunned as Emma felt, which was pretty damn stunned. She never, in her wildest dreams, thought she'd run into the thief she met on the streets the year prior--that happened to steal her heart only to disappear a few weeks after--in a quaint town in Maine. 

"Oh, damn, Emma? Holy shit, what're you doing here?" He tried to flash that charming smile that hung loosely on his lips. The smile that made her fall the first time. But Neal Gold was pure, unadulterated trouble, and there was no way she could safely be around him without jeopardizing everything. So she ran, like she was programmed to do. It would've worked better if her toe hadn't gotten snagged on the stairs and sent her flying into someone, causing the persons very, very hot black coffee to soak both Emma and the owner of said coffee.

"Shit, fuck, shit." She felt the person under her pushing roughly at her chest and Emma really did try to get up as quickly as possible, which may have been the problem, causing her foot to slide on a puddle of coffee on the marble landing and making her drop like a sack of potatoes onto her poor coffee loving victim. A loud "oof" sounded from below her as her knee landed on the persons crotch with such a force that her knee began to pulsate with pain. Emma wanted to literally die. 

"Get off of me, you mongrel!" She wanted to yell out that she was attempting to get the fuck up but they didn't label her as clumsy for no goddamn reason. Before she could make an even bigger fool of herself, she felt strong arms wrap around her mid section and pull her up and off of the poor coffee loving, apple scented victim with a husky voice.

"Jesus, Emma. Some things really don't change." Quickly realizing that Neal had pulled her off, she ripped his hands off of her waist and was gearing up to tear him a new one when a growl originating from the ground caught her attention. And just... wow, cause the poor coffee loving, apple scented victim with a husky voice was also really, really drop dead gorgeous, in a Maxim magazine kind of way. She had short brown, almost black, hair that looked like it was styled by a damn glam squad, a body that couldn't quit even if it tried, and a face that was so aesthetically pleasing it had to be sculpted by God himself. Or maybe a plastic surgeon. But probably a God.

"I'm so--" Emma froze as the brunette threw her a withering glare, packed with so much heat, and smacked away the hand Emma had offered and stood menacingly slow. Emma was about to be graced with that husky voice when Neal jumped forward and chuckles nervously.

"Regina, come on. It was an accident, alright?" His attempt at charm was met with another growl from the brunette. Before either could try again, Regina picked up her bag and fled toward the front entrance to the school. And wow... that view was pretty nice, not only because of that ass but because Emma had begun to fear for her life. 

And that's how she first met Regina Mills, queen bee of the Pink Ladies.

\--

"So, let me get this straight. You're a part of a wanna-be gang called the T-Birds who spend their days wearing leather jackets, smoking, and fixing up cars in order to bang chicks in the back seats, and the female counterpart are the Pink Ladies who chase after you guys, like to be banged in the back seats of your shitty cars, and walk around all high and mighty in order to scare all other girls into line?" Neal nods emphatically and Emma already feels a delirious giggle crawl it's way up her windpipe. For fucks sake, she's standing under the foot ball field bleachers during lunch with her kinda, sorta ex-boyfriend who belongs to the school gang and bangs a woman named Tamara who walks around school wearing pink all the time because that's what they do. That's the funny part. The delirious part is the fact that this school was supposed to be her fresh start yet here was Neal, who was her first love and first heartbreak, and only a few hours ago Emma made the worst first impression on Regina Mills, the girl that basically runs the school. In short, her fresh start has rotted real quick.

"Okay, so if I'm gonna survive this school, I'm gonna have to know the famous faces around here. Give me the low down, man." Neal takes a drag from his cigarette then offers her to take a hit but she declines. She's trying. 

"There's me, Hook, Robin, Eric, and Jim. We're the T-Birds. Hook is something else. Stay away from him. Robin is an alright guy but he doesn't know what the hell he wants, except that he wants Regina Mills' pussy, which is never gonna happening cause that chick hates his guts. She said he smells like dog shit and pinecone and that his face looks like he's perpetually constipated. She's not wrong, but ouch, right? Anyway, Eric and Jim are solid good guys. I'm not too sure how they got involved with the rest of us. I think they were looking for a way to survive around here. It's a tough student body." Great, Emma thinks derisively.

"As for the Pink Ladies, there's Tink, Tamara, Mal, Cru, and Regina. Tink is Hook's chick but they're on-again-off-again every other day so they have side pieces but claim to love each other. Tink is cool, but she's so desperate for the approval of everyone around her. Tamara is my girl. She's the sweetest of them all, but I'm kinda biased. Mal is a fire breathing dragon in human form. She's real tough to crack. Cru is sassy as hell, but also kind of scary at the same time, like you'll have a good time with her but you'll be scared shitless the entire way."

He pauses and Emma just knows that Regina Mills requires an extra breath, a moment to collect thoughts, because she seems so larger than life that even Emma can't stop thinking about her. Maybe that's just the gay side of her talking. She prompts him with, "And last but not least?"

"Yeah," he chuckles, "Regina Mills is something else, but not in the same way as Hook. Hook is deplorable on all levels, but Regina has this wall around her that's covered in barbed wires, ya know? She's so hard to get to know. It's almost like she works so hard so that no one truly knows her, because if they don't know her--"

"--They can't hurt her." He nods absentmindedly, like he's thought about this before, and he probably has. Emma understands. She's only met Regina once, barely any conversation exchanged, yet she wants to unravel that mystery and see what lies inside. There's an aura around the brunette that makes you want to be the one to solve it, to be the one that she trusts. 

Then Emma shakes her head, because she's acting like an idiot. She doesn't know this girl, not even a bit. It's just a bunch of projection. That's what she and Neal are doing. They always fail to think that maybe some people aren't complicated, or damaged, or hurt. Maybe some people are just that horrible.

\--

The last thing she expects is for Neal to drag her, kicking and screaming, to the Pink Ladies lunch table and show her off like a prized poodle. He literally plops her down next to who she can only assume is Mal because she kind of does look reptilian. 

"Hey, ladies!" He drops his ass onto the corner of the table and leans over to peck Tamara's lips, though his girlfriend looks too curious about Emma to even reciprocate. In fact, she has a murderous glint in her gaze and Emma figures she might as well nip that in the bud before it even sprouts.

"Hi, uh, I'm Emma." She can see Regina--who is staring off toward the football field with a mask of indifference that would've been convincing had Emma not caught a hint of a smirk pulling at her lips--in her peripheral and, damn, even Regina's blur looks amazing. She's not wearing a stitch of pink either, which feels like a no-no cause it's like a sea of pink around the rest of the table. Is this not a Mean Girls type situation? Anyway. "Neal and I used to date but we're totally over that. Completely."

Neal's eyes widen just a tad and Tamara's face hardens and , fuck, that's the opposite of what she wants so she puts on a disarming smile and continues, "Listen, Neal and I were great friends before we dated for like a hot minute. I see that he's way happier with you, way more compatible with you, than he ever was with me. So I'm not here to sabotage or whatever. I really don't want him."

Emma's body unclenches when Tamara's face softens into a teasing grin. Okay, crisis one of five averted. With that thought in mind, she darts her eyes around the table and, of course, locks her gaze onto Regina's. Emma was expecting some glare or mean spirited grin to have formed after her bumbling speech, but the brunette looks curious, perhaps baffled. Emma would take it to her grave but the look made her feel breathless. 

"Well, I'm guessing you're asking us to take this stray in, aren't you?" The comment thrown out by the dragon lady shouldn't have hurt the way it did because Mal doesn't know her or what she's all about, but it was a sore spot and it did hurt. She wouldn't show any weakness to that bitch though. 

"No, I'm good. This stray prefers the lone wolf act."

The table goes silent. And that's how Emma gets a big, red target put on her back. So much for starting fresh.

\--

Her classes are chock full of heathens, if she's being honest. She finally meets the T-Birds during her last class and, in comparison with their female counterparts, they're underwhelming. She's also surprised to find out that they're not half bad, except Hook. Neal's description of "deplorable" is right on target. Not only is his personality vomit inducing, he's got a hook on his left hand, which he lost when a crocodile bit it clean off during a vacation to the Everglades down in Florida. Of course there's nothing wrong with missing a hand, but combining the guys leer with a shiny weapon attached to his stump leads to some tension. 

Robin is perpetually confused. He constantly states the obvious as if it were a question and stares at the professor like he's grown two heads. He's a walking question mark, honestly. Jim and Eric are great guys. They're funny, kind, smart, and really open to Emma. They sat next to her and tried to welcome her to the school. Emma's trust issues revolving dudes made her a little frigid toward them but they didn't even seem to notice. 

She couldn't hold back a chuckle when they simultaneously threw on their black leather jackets that had little blue birds flying from the bottom to the top. It looked like birds were zooming out of their asses. Emma started to wonder if she should emboss her red leather jacket with some stupid design. Maybe a bulls eye. That'd be fitting.

She at least survived her first day unscathed, for the most part, which is why she doesn't take any chances and huddles into a bathroom stall to avoid all of the students flooding the front courtyard of the school on their way home. Right when she's about to get off the toilet and run home, the bathroom door creaks open.

"Mal, there's no need to take this so seriously. So the girl turned down a spot with us. We're not everyone's cup of tea, you know." Well, that's just her fucking luck, isn't it? She can see all five figures of the Pink Ladies through the crack of the door. Again, a sea of pink and that one speck of all black that is Regina Mills. 

"She embarrassed us, Tink. Everyone saw her sit with us then walk away haughtily. Who the hell does she think she is?" The water tap is turned on but the echo in the room allows her to hear it all in high definition.

"Good lord, I'm not drunk enough for this conversation." 

"You say that during every conversation, Cruella. You should really go to that AA meeting." Cru guffaws angrily. Mal grunts and everyone goes silent again. So maybe Regina isn't the queen bee after all. 

"This is stupid. She seems cool." Tamara's voice is hard and Emma blinks rapidly cause she's pretty sure she somehow managed to make a friend. "Just leave her be. You always make a mountain out of a mole hill."

"No, she--"

"Leave her be." Emma almost slides the fuck off the toilet at this, because she's either hallucinating or Regina fucking Mills just basically threatened Mal for her. Again, the room goes silent. Emma holds her breath. There's a huff then a stomping of feet out of the bathroom. More silence.

Tentatively, Tamara whispers, "Are we going to the diner with the guys?" 

This springs conversation back up and after a minute of chattering, make up touch ups, and some gossip, the ladies seemingly walk out of the bathroom. Emma waits a moment, peeks under the stall door to check for stragglers, and when she's satisfied that she's alone, she throws open the door. She also lets out a muffled scream when she finds Regina Mills siting on the last sink, a full blown smirk on her lips. 

"Holy shit, someone needs to put a bell around your neck." Regina's smirk grows. Wow, that's... that's pretty. 

"Hello, Miss Swan." Okay, did they turn eighty in the last five minutes because she's never been called that by anyone other that her prehistoric social worker? Regina jumps down from the sink and slinks over to really get into Emma's personal space. She's so close that Emma can feel Regina's breath on her lips and it's making her pulse in a very awkward way. 

"Uh, hey." Emma whispers, yet it still feels so loud because Regina is right there. She's so close that Emma can smell her fruity perfume and minty breath. Wait... did Regina pop a mint? Yeah, she wasn't gonna think about the reasons for that.

"How eloquent, dear." Regina shuffles and pops her hip forward and out, making it slide against Emma's. Emma just hopes to every god out there that Regina can't feel the extra heat in that area.

"I'm not really known for eloquence, so I don't know what you were expecting, to be completely honest. I mean, I am the person that spilled coffee on you and sprawled my body over yours as I ran away from my ex." She was rambling. Great. This was going well. And speaking of the incident, did Regina change out of the coffee soaked clothes? She looks down to check but gets stuck on the boobs. Regina notices, of course.

"Mmm, so that's why Tamara truly has nothing to worry about?" The words seem innocent enough but when underlined with that sexy husk, Emma's knees get weak. Then the words stitch together and she finally gets what's being asked.

"I'm--yeah. I'm gay. I figured it out after Neal. When he left, I realized that he broke my heart by abandoning me like everyone else had, not because of any romantic thing." She's not too sure why she said that. Emma clears her throat. Regina chuckles lightly then hums as her upper body comes closer. Emma blurts out, "Are you flirting with me?"

Regina outright laughs before responding with, "Are you that obtuse, Miss Swan?"

"Like a triangle?" Regina chuckles again and Emma kind of really likes seeing Regina's dark brown eyes filled with mirth. She put that happy glint in those eyes and she feels special, which is dumb because Regina is totally toying with her, right?

"How was your first at Storybrooke High?" Regina withdraws her hips and Emma wants to sigh with relief and whimper all at once.

"It was... just magical." Her sarcastic drawl is met with a smile. It doesn't seem malicious or loaded with negative intent, but Emma's still on guard. Regina surely wasn't given the nickname The Evil Queen for no reason. "This, uh, was fun, but I gotta get home or else my foster parents will worry."

"Foster parents?" 

"Yeah." Regina hums again. 

"So that's why you clammed up at the stray comment by Mal?" It's phrased like a question but Emma can just tell that Regina knows the answer, that Regina has her pinned down even though it's been less than a day. It makes her uncomfortable to have spilled so many truths about herself that she usually held close to the vest, but the word vomit already projected out and Regina is already staring at her, surprisingly sans pity. 

"That wasn't why I declined being in the group." Regina tilts her head in question. "I'm trying to be better, do better, for my current foster parents and no offense, Regina, but your group reeks of trouble. It's trouble I can't afford to be a part of. I can't fuck this up."

And that's when Emma and Regina reach an understanding, one that would be the foundation of everything to come. 

\--

Even though she explained why she wanted to steer clear of the group, Regina still invites Emma to every single thing the ladies do. Emma would like to believe that Regina wants her around, but the self deprecating side is telling her to run as far as possible because she's gonna be the butt of the joke. Still, Emma somehow ends up hanging out with the Pink Ladies at Tink's house and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Regina had given her the puppy eyes and popped out her lower lip. That'd just be stupid, right? 

So they're holed up in Tink's bedroom. Its pink all over, the bed sheets, the wallpaper, the carpet. Shocker. It makes Emma feel like she's floating in a Pepto Bismal bottle. She's slowly starting to hate the color more than she already did.

She's sitting on the floor, right next to Regina, who's painting her nails black. Emma silently cheers on that decision. The others are smoking and Emma fears the damn smoke alarm will sound, but Tink soon throws open a window and uses a magazine to encourage the smoke to go out of the room. 

"I found out that Killian was caught banging Wendy Darling in the janitors closet." Tink cries out. Emma's not sure if the wet eyes are because of her sleazy boyfriend or from all the smoke wafting around the room. 

"You're too good for him, Tink. Just leave him already. You deserve better." Tamara says robotically, probably because she's said that exact sentence over a hundred times within the last 3 years. Mal rolls her eyes.

"He's hot. He's a good lay. It's not like Tink expects to settle down with him behind a white picket fence with some kids and a dog." Tink drops her head into her hands.

"Mal, darling, how do you know Hook is a good lay?" Cru looks scandalized but excited to have possibly started some drama. Mal shrugs. Tink just cries harder.

"Is this what you guys always do?" Emma whispers into Regina's ear. She feels more than sees Regina's shiver and she has to bite her lip to keep from smirking. One thing she learned in the last two weeks is that Regina Mills is at the very least a little gay.

"Are we boring you, dear?" 

"Kind of, yeah." Regina starts blowing on her fingers to dry the polish and Emma fights off a smile. God, she's in deep. What an idiot. 

"We could always go somewhere else." Emma looks around and sees all the girls busy reading magazines, gossiping, or crying in Tink's case. She shakes her head.

"I don't want to be a bother."

"Nonsense." Regina turns to the girls and whistles to get their attention. "Emma and I are heading out. Don't wait up." 

They end up on Lovers Lane, which makes Emma have palpitations while simultaneously wondering why the fuck Regina took her up there in her Mercedes. She's also pretty sure she can see Hooks ass pressed against the drivers side window in the car next to them. 

"So, um, what're we doing here?"

"You're always so obtuse."

"I'd like to think I'm more a-cute." Emma punctuated the pun with a wink. Regina shook her head and leaned closer, propping her arm on the center console. 

"You're definitely both, dear." An inch closer. Emma's mesmerized, especially when she finally feels soft lips against hers. 

They end up putting Lovers Lane to shame.

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be stretched out for the summer Supernova but I liked how cute it was and didn't want to add angst. The math pun is for my girlfriend that likes that kind of humor. She hardly reads my stuff though so lol
> 
> Anyway, I hope you liked it. I'm @SwanQueenSwen on Twitter and amvilas on Tumblr. I'm always open to chatting.


End file.
